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Interview: Joanna Marple on uTales.

Darshana Shah Khiani‘s interview on her Children’s Book Review site, “Flowering Minds”, with new children’s picture book author, Joanna Marple, is revealing on lots lof levels.

Joanna and Darshana met on children’s writer and illustrator FaceBook site, 12 x 12 , a very lively, supportive, share and learn community set up by Julie Hedlund. When Joanna released her very first picture book, a collaboration with the very talented Maja Sereda, Darshana jumped in with the interview offer.

“Snow Games” is a fun tumble and rumpus in winter’s wonderland aimed at 3 to 7 year olds. Maja’s wonderfully endearing little animal characterisations beautifully complement the story.

Joanna  shares what it was like to collaborate with Maja to create “Snow Games”. Close collaboration between author  and illustrator is a circumstance largely [and sadly] foreign to most traditional print publishing. For Joanna and Maja it was a fun and very rewarding experince. But the interview goes beyond the creation of  ”Snow Games”. It also details Joanna’s experience of the uTales website and her thoughts on traditional and digital publishing.

Joanna mentions my collaboration with noted animal and wildlife illustrator, Muza Ulasowski, a story about surviving change, “The Sea Cat Dreams”. Muza was one of many wonderful illustrators I met on the uTales Facebook group and have since worked with to create a varied range of children’s books.

I have found the opportunity to collaborate with illustrators something eminently rewarding, an experience that  enriches both participants and results in a more vibrant and much richer work. My first picture book, “Mending Lucille” was also a result of a collaboration. Working with the amazing Sarah Davis was inspirational! I have gone on to collaborate closely with illustrators all over the world to create numbers of other picture books, some digitally published**, some in process with p

iPad Kids App Review by Renny Fong

FlyingBooks Reader by Flyingbooks LTD

online link to FlyingBooks Reader Preview:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/eebooreader/id466277060?ls=1&mt=8

FlyingBooks site:  http://www.flyingbooks.co/

My YouTube demo of the FlyingBooks app:

FlyingBooks Reader is a terrific interactive e-book reader for kids with many cool additional features (and more to come in the very near future). It allows you to create different personal profiles so one e-book can be read aloud and recorded by many different narrators. So, if you’re away on a trip, or if the grandparents are not in town, your child can still feel that bond of reading with loved ones. Better yet, if you’re on a road trip and you have the iPad in your hands, you can listen to recordings of your child reading to you! Another feature your child will love is the ability to create your own books with the photos from your iPad Camera Roll or you can take live shots with your iPad camera and put them right into a book. You can also add text and record your voice(s), too. Cool, right?

FlyingBooks e-store

Create Your Own Books!

Record your own narration!

In terms of book choices, the FlyingBooks store currently offers over 40 books, which are labeled with recommended age levels. More and more books are being added, as they are getting a great response from talented and passionate writers from all over the world. Currently, the book narrations can be heard in English, German, French, and Spanish. Another great feature is that you can see a short trailer of each book when you tap on it. You could also download a demo of the book, which lets you preview and listen to a few pages, so you and your child can decide if the story is a right fit for you. Each book costs $2.99. There are some discounted bundles available, too. In the coming weeks, mini puzzles will be offered for each book to encourage active learning, along with coloring pages. There will also be an auto-play option on the read-to-me feature to make it easier for the little ones.

The FlyingBooks app is a FREE download, so I highly recommend you give it a try. Go ahead. Create a book. Download a demo. Record yourself. Record your child. Let the joy of reading begin!